Thursday, September 19, 2013

Ice see you have LEGO bricks.

I grew up on garage sales and flea markets. Our Dad would take us kids to the flea market almost every week and I loved it. I looked on in wonder at G.I. Joes, He Man toys, video games, Star Wars figures, comic books, trading cards, X-Men action figures, and antiques. I never really bought much, because I didn't really have any money when I was a kid. I do remember buying a Rattlor figure from the He Man toy line. I have since lost it, but I hope to find him again at a flea market or garage sale.

"Garage Sailing" was also a common weekend activity. I just couldn't believe some of the cool stuff people would want to get rid of! I would always make a b-line for the FREE box. The fun didn't end at garage and yard sales, oh no! Bulk trash pick-up day was a great time to drive around and discover treasures among trash. It was like everyone in the neighborhood was having a FREE garage sale! I recently posted about a great curbside find. You just can't beat FREE stuff!

I have been meaning to have more flea market adventures with my Dad. I loved going to the flea market as a kid and I have many fond memories of our trips there. In the meantime I have been trying to go to as many garage sales as I can and it just so happens I recently had a major find.

I grew up on LEGO (in addition to garage sales and flea markets. :P). I remember building the Classic Space Unitron Monorail Transport Base Train set with my Dad and my brother. We had everything from the Space theme to Wild West. LEGO seemed so much more affordable back then. I loved all the small sets that were basically just mini figures, they were freaking awesome!!!! Large sets were always fun, but over time they'd break apart, instructions would get lost and pieces were scattered through time and space. Some mini figures were lost as well, but they tended to stick around for the most part.

(This video always puts me into a nostalgic comma. Pure awesome!)

But enough about my LEGO past, let's talk about "the find". It was at a garage sale in our neighborhood, just up the street. I actually knew the family that was hosting the sale. Their teenage son was in the youth class at church that I taught from time to time. So anyways, there I am searching for something good when I came across this bin and my heart leapt!

I hope Chris doesn't regret letting his Sunday school teacher buy his LEGO.

LEGO bricks! Always a great find at a garage sale. I instantly asked how much they wanted for it. "$35?" That seemed like a fortune to me as I am super frugal (more like a penny pinching tightwad actually). At this point I hadn't even looked inside. So I opened up that puppy and what did I find?
MEGA BLOCKS!

Half the bin was MEGA BLOCKS! MEGA BLOCKS!? UNACCEPTABLE!!

You tell 'em Lemon Grab!

If you or one you love is an AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) then you know AFOLs hate immitation brands with the burning passion of a thousand suns! DO NOT BUY mega blocks, best lock, k'nex, tyco, kreo, etc. THEY ARE GARBAGE! I know they're cheaper, but they're cheaper for a reason, and that reason is because they are crap! Parents, DO NOT buy these for your children! Dang it, I'm ranting again, back to the story. (I apologize ahead of time for hating on these toy brands. I don't hate them, I just strongly dislike them. If you like the above mentioned brands then that's fine, we can still be friends, I promise! We're totally cool!)

SO, half the bin is *cringe* mega blocks, so I actually went through the bin and started picking out all the mega blocks pieces! They asked what I was doing, and I explained it to them as best I could. I will resist the urge to rant about the fact that they called the mega blocks "legos". After removing the worthless mega blocks bits I was able to talk them down on price. After all, I had just removed half the "legos". I was able to talk them down to $20 and walked home with a fine bin of LEGO bricks (not legos, sorry, AFOLs are very anal about this point. You can still call them Legos, I won't get offended) I still paid more than I wanted to, but I knew the family and I was just thrilled to have some vintage LEGO.

Nothin' like a tub o' LEGO!

The bin in question. I was most excited to see Ice Planet pieces. Ice Planet is my all time favorite Space theme. I love the color scheme, blue, black, white, and that amazing translucent orange!

Here are some of my favorite mini figures that were included in the bin, but certainly not all of them.

My Ice Planet crew amongst others in my toy community

I mixed in the Ice Planet figures from the bin with my current collection. I now have a mighty fine Ice Planet crew to play Brik Wars with. I actually wish there was some snow on the ground, then I could snap a proper picture of the crew in their element.

This guy in the middle is my favorite. He looks like he really loves his job!

She's one beautiful captain!

The second guy from the left kinda looks like my brother.

Johnny Thunder from the Adventurers theme!

Mars Mission Astronauts

These Martian figures are so strange

Officer Lee Gogh, keeping the streets safe.

Left over mega block bits

I'm not the only one with an amazing find. Go check out what other LOEB members discovered:

Yeah, Ice Planet really stood out among the other LEGO space themes. The other themes were all black, grey, green, red, deep space, and barren lunar surfaces, kind of predictable.

I don't hate all the new licensed LEGO sets, but I do like themes that aren't based on some movie or TV show. You can use your imagination more. For a time when I was a teenager I went through what AFOLs call a "dark ages". A dark age is any period of time when you lost interest in LEGO. The new LEGO minifigures series helped me come out of my dark ages, because they're much cheaper (LEGO is too expensive), and the figures are my favorite part of LEGO.

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About Me

I like "geeky" stuff and I love shopping my local Deseret Industries thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales so I can find all sorts of sweet stuff for cheap! I also blog about other random things, like SPAM, cereal, drawing, family, candies, holidays, decorating, and anything else that strikes my fancy.